Shadow is much more tolerant of brushing than Malik, so that should make them easy to identify on the web cameras. We have observed some more posturing from Shadow in the last several months and it makes us wonder if he isn't reponding to Grizzer being in the adjacent enclosure. The behavior is usually directed at Malik, but there are times when he stands tall at the gate and makes his presence known.
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It’s a busy week for the curator, so all the logs will have the same text: In the Exhibit Pack, there’s been a lot of raven activity around the left over food, and as Maya’s video shows, some ravens are caught by the wolves. Maya killed this raven that was too close to the carcass. Dominance in the Exhibit pack remains fairly calm. In Shadow’s video, you see him taking a leadership position on top of the den, moving with a high tail position toward the pack. He vocalizes to Grizzer and gets the response he was looking for. Malik continues to show signs of being a third ranking male, in his video, you see him watch Grizzer take a deer carcass up the hill. On Sunday’s feeding, staff fed 1 full deer and a second deer torso to ensure that everyone had plenty to eat. In the Retired Pack, Mackenzie has her good days and bad days. The video for MacKenzie shows one of her bad days, She prefers to rest in her straw bed and not interact with staff, but she shows submissive ear postures to the staff off camera. We are very watchful of these days and give her the respect and space that she needs. The day after that video, she had a great day with staff member, Matt Fetterer. She rolled over on her back and got a full massage from Matt, stretching all 4 legs to full extension for the full effect of the massage. Lakota’s change in antibiotics did the trick. The abscess has drained and she’s back to her playful self. On the same day as Mac was getting the massage from Matt, the curator was doing playbows with Lakota, as she raced around the pen and even jumped over the curator’s head. Of course, she was sitting on the ground, so it wasn’t that high of a leap, but for a wolf nearing 14, it was very limber.
Malik’s level of anxiety has increased as the temperatures have warmed and the snow started to fall. While he may still be part of the chase scene, Grizzer seems to have surpassed the need to show much dominance over Malik. Grizzer’s focus is usually on Shadow, but fortunately, the intensity has decreased in the last week. In Malik’s video this week, he watches Grizzer do a full back rest, looking calm, but the Arctic’s are always wary of Grizzer’s next action.
Even though the dominance behavior has calmed a bit from earlier winters, Shadow still keeps an eye on Grizzer and signs of testing. As you can see from Shadow’s video, he is still top wolf in this Exhibit. After wolf care staff removed icicles form the roof line, Shadow proceeded to mark them using the RLU or Raised Leg Urination, although in this exhibit, that doesn’t mean much. In the wild, normally only the dominant male displays an RLU behavior with the subordinate wolves displaying more standing or squat urinations. Due to the lack of breeding at this facility, all 3 males will display RLU to either mark or display status. The difference in Shadow is that as the current dominant wolf, he keeps his tail high and will often scratch excessively to distribute his scent.
This week’s photo of Grizzer is very telling as to the intent of his action. While a canid lifting a paw may indicate a submissive posture, when Grizzer places his paw on Shadow, it is a sign of dominance. One other notable point of this photo is that Grizzer’s ears are pricked forward a sign of intensity and Shadow’s ears are pricked but turned sideways, a sign of intimidation. If you look to Shadow’s photo, you will see Shadow respond with a full snarl in defense. The video for Grizzer shows him testing Malik. Malik responds with a tucked tail and full threat display of growling and lunging. With non-breeding captive wolves, it’s difficult to assign rank position, but it does appear the Malik is now the lowest ranking male.
It’s a busy week for the curator, so all the logs will have the same text: In the Exhibit Pack, there’s been a lot of raven activity around the left over food, and as Maya’s video shows, some ravens are caught by the wolves. Maya killed this raven that was too close to the carcass. Dominance in the Exhibit pack remains fairly calm. In Shadow’s video, you see him taking a leadership position on top of the den, moving with a high tail position toward the pack. He vocalizes to Grizzer and gets the response he was looking for. Malik continues to show signs of being a third ranking male, in his video, you see him watch Grizzer take a deer carcass up the hill. On Sunday’s feeding, staff fed 1 full deer and a second deer torso to ensure that everyone had plenty to eat. In the Retired Pack, Mackenzie has her good days and bad days. The video for MacKenzie shows one of her bad days, She prefers to rest in her straw bed and not interact with staff, but she shows submissive ear postures to the staff off camera. We are very watchful of these days and give her the respect and space that she needs. The day after that video, she had a great day with staff member, Matt Fetterer. She rolled over on her back and got a full massage from Matt, stretching all 4 legs to full extension for the full effect of the massage. Lakota’s change in antibiotics did the trick. The abscess has drained and she’s back to her playful self. On the same day as Mac was getting the massage from Matt, the curator was doing playbows with Lakota, as she raced around the pen and even jumped over the curator’s head. Of course, she was sitting on the ground, so it wasn’t that high of a leap, but for a wolf nearing 14, it was very limber.
It’s a busy week for the curator, so all the logs will have the same text: In the Exhibit Pack, there’s been a lot of raven activity around the left over food, and as Maya’s video shows, some ravens are caught by the wolves. Maya killed this raven that was too close to the carcass. Dominance in the Exhibit pack remains fairly calm. In Shadow’s video, you see him taking a leadership position on top of the den, moving with a high tail position toward the pack. He vocalizes to Grizzer and gets the response he was looking for. Malik continues to show signs of being a third ranking male, in his video, you see him watch Grizzer take a deer carcass up the hill. On Sunday’s feeding, staff fed 1 full deer and a second deer torso to ensure that everyone had plenty to eat. In the Retired Pack, Mackenzie has her good days and bad days. The video for MacKenzie shows one of her bad days, She prefers to rest in her straw bed and not interact with staff, but she shows submissive ear postures to the staff off camera. We are very watchful of these days and give her the respect and space that she needs. The day after that video, she had a great day with staff member, Matt Fetterer. She rolled over on her back and got a full massage from Matt, stretching all 4 legs to full extension for the full effect of the massage. Lakota’s change in antibiotics did the trick. The abscess has drained and she’s back to her playful self. On the same day as Mac was getting the massage from Matt, the curator was doing playbows with Lakota, as she raced around the pen and even jumped over the curator’s head. Of course, she was sitting on the ground, so it wasn’t that high of a leap, but for a wolf nearing 14, it was very limber.
Lakota’s doing extremely well. In this week’s video, she is doing some testing behavior toward MacKenzie, then sprints around the enclosure. When she gets this excited, she tries to howl, but her vocal chords no longer produce much sound. Her abscessed tooth is healed, although wolf care staff on Thursday’s check noted that she was sensitive at the site of a benign growth on her leg. At this age, there’s always something.
Don’t let Malik’s photo or video fool you, he’s not as passive as he looks. He takes advantages of situations, specifically when Shadow is having issues. In Malik’s video, you can see the variety of ear postures a wolf may present to express themselves. As Malik sits on the den, he portrays many different postures. You also see Malik take a few bites at Shadow as Grizzer pushes him into the corner of the building. Note Shadow’s tail is tucked and demonstrates threatening snarls.
Written by Workin' For Wolves program participants Michael Mallory and Cathy Gray: During Sunday's morning wolf check, Shadow showed anxiety at seeing oiur group near the fence. His tail dropped between his legs and he ran up the hill away from the fence as other pack members followed. As the others grew more comfortable, they returned by the fence area by the auditorium. Still uneasy, Shadow moved down, jumped on a rock and started to bark-howl. The rest of the pack gathered around him and chimed in. Due to this stress response, the curator asked us to leave the fence area out of sight. While the remainder of the Ambassador pack calmed down, Shadow, still agitated, continued to bark-howl until program participants were no longer visible.
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